Tourists help clean up toys and TVs on beach after cargo ship loses containers on Dutch island

Tourists have helped clean up a beach littered with toys, TVs and auto parts after a container ship lost its cargo.

Tourists helped clean up a Dutch island after a container ship lost 270 containers of items.

Tourists helped clean up a Dutch island after a container ship lost 270 containers of items. Source: Twitter: @ritzotencate

Ritzo ten Cate was one of the tourists who helped authorities clean up loose items on the Dutch island of Terschelling after a container ship's lost cargo washed ashore.

Tourists visiting the island helped residents and local authorities clean up thousands of toys, TVs and auto parts that were scattered for kilometres across the Dutch island after the cargo ship MSC Zoe lost 270 containers.

Images posted to Twitter show sandals and a My Little Pony toy, alongside flat-screen TVs, damaged containers and even a BMW.

The clean up took place after a bag containing dangerous powder washed up on a small Dutch island on Thursday, a day after MSC Zoe lost the 270 containers in rough weather, officials said.

"A bag containing 25 kilograms of powder was found on the beach of Schiermonnikoog," said Jan-Willem Zwart, spokesman for the security services of the Frisian Islands, identifying it as "organic peroxide," a highly flammable substance used in making plastics.

He told AFP the bag had come from one of three containers transporting organic peroxide that had been on board the MSC Zoe.

The Panama-registered ship, which was mostly carrying toys, furniture and auto parts, lost the containers late on Tuesday while battling a storm off the Frisian Islands, an archipelago off the northwestern Dutch coast also known as the Wadden Islands.

So far, around 20 containers have been located near the shores of these islands while another six were found in German waters.

Volunteers have been helping collect items washed up on the beaches, which "look like a mess", Zwart said.

Tourists wade through the Wadden Sea between the northern Dutch village of Westernieland and the island of Schiermonnikoog, Netherlands
Tourists wade through the Wadden Sea between the northern Dutch village of Westernieland and the island of Schiermonnikoog, Netherlands Source: AP

But the authorities have warned volunteers and locals not to touch any bags but to call police or the fire brigade.

"We strongly advise residents and people who have come to clean the beaches to... immediately seek medical attention if they come into contact with the bags (containing organic peroxide)," Zwart said, warning that the chemical substance "can cause burns".

Dutch broadcaster NOS on Wednesday broadcast footage of locals gathered around one of the containers, with toys and other materials strewn across the beach and one man carrying off a flat screen television.

The MSC Zoe, which berthed at the northern German port of Bremerhaven late Wednesday, is one of the world's largest container vessels at 396 metres (1300 feet) long and 59 metres wide. It was built in 2015.


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By Riley Morgan



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